Microsoft Azure Stack is an extension of Azure—bringing the agility and innovation of cloud computing to your on-premises environment and enabling the only hybrid cloud that allows you to build and deploy hybrid applications anywhere. We bring together the best of the edge and cloud to deliver Azure services anywhere in your environment.

SQL Server 2008 end of support is coming. Move to Azure virtual machines and get 3 more years of extended security updates

Seamless no-hassle migration

Ready to walk away from datacenter management of your SQL Server apps? Azure makes it easy. Spin up a virtual machine, back up your SQL Server instance, and restore it into Azure. It’s that easy to reduce your capital investments and optimize operational expenses by migrating your on-premises SQL Server to the cloud. If you already have SQL Server licenses with Software Assurance, then you can use our Bring your own license (BYOL) images, and eliminate the need to manually install SQL Server.

Develop and test cost-effectively

Spin up a new development environment in minutes, and only pay for what you use. Our SQL Server Developer images, including SQL Server 2017, provide a full SQL Server feature set in a free license for development and testing. SQL Server Express images allow you to host lightweight workloads (up to 1 GB memory and 10 GB storage) with a free license as well. Low virtual machine usage costs mean you pay only cents per hour, while using all the features you need for development and testing.

Improve business continuity

Improve business continuity in the event of disaster by placing your SQL Server Always On Availability Group replicas in virtual machines. SQL Server 2017 gives you up to eight readable replicas, which you can deploy to a fast-growing list of Azure regions around the world. Set up fast failover for database applications running in Azure, and strategically place your SQL Server replicas for peace of mind in case of on-premises failure.

Now available on Linux and Windows

SQL Server 2017 gives you the flexibility to run your choice of SQL Server edition in an Azure virtual machine, now on the operating system of your choice. Whether you choose Windows or a Linux distribution like Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Enterprise Linux, or Ubuntu, SQL Server 2017 will provide a consistent experience from on-premises to cloud. Run your Linux applications on the database with industry-leading performance and security for all your workloads.